[THIN] Re: PCL5e or PCL6 printer drivers

  • From: "Douglas A. Brown" <dbrown@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 10:18:50 -0800

This is a good question... PC5 vs. PCL6?   

As we already see from this thread PCL5 it is popular to say stay with
PCL5 but why?

What problems do you guys "really" see with PCL6 drivers?  I would like
to know.

Some apps might actually take advantage of the PCL5 form overlay
capability which is different in PCL XL (PCL6).  So for this reason,
PCL5 might be required and if not present then could cause an issue.
Other than this issue, excluding perhaps the maturity of the driver code
itself (PCL6 being somewhat newer), I have not seen any specific reason
to recommend PCL5 drivers versus PCL6.  

The PCL XL (PCL6) format is substantially altered from prior PCL
generations.  It represents an imaging model that is more consistent
with GDI's view of the world that that of its PCL predecessors.  For
devices that support it, PCL6 drivers are the only ones that HP is still
investing resource in developing.  PCL5 drivers are basically
maintenance only for most laser printers these days.

I talked to a friend who 110% understands the Citrix print subsystem
that said,  "I personally favor PCL6 drivers for the printers I use and
have few problems...no more no less than PCL 5. PCL print jobs in
general are somewhat leaner than PCL5 as well although the differences
in job size are minor. So I'm not sure exactly where this recommendation
is coming from." 

In looking over HP's site and in talking to people about this "best
practice" I never get a, "well, I have this problem and I see it on all
PCL6 drivers I use" or "the reason is because of..."  

This being said, I would like to know more about why people call this a
best practice and what happens in your environment when you use a PCL 6
driver.  From here I will try to dig deeper into the problem.

But, I can't argue with people thinking or knowing that when they use
PCL5 only they have less issues...  If that is what you see then that is
what you see.

Please let me know what you really see when using PCL 6 drivers.

DB








-----Original Message-----
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Schneider, Chad M
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 9:54 AM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Re: PCL5e or PCL6 printer drivers

Difference:

PCL5e = Good!
PCL6 = Bad! 

:)

-----Original Message-----
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf
Of Torben Claus
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 8:30 AM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Re: PCL5e or PCL6 printer drivers

mmh - ok...i'll use PCL5e...
But what is the difference between PCL5e and PCL6?
Any links?

Greetings.


On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 07:35:09 -0600, Mike Semon <msemon@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> I'll second that. We had more problems with PCL6 drivers. PCL5e 
> drivers are much more stable.
> 
> -Mike
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of Chris Lynch
> Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2004 8:09 PM
> To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [THIN] Re: PCL5e or PCL6 printer drivers
> 
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> I can tell you that we have been experiencing some major issues with 
> the PCL6 drivers.  Both on our MF servers (Windows 2000 with SP3) and 
> on our F&P Clusters (Windows Server 2003).
> 
> I would stay away from PCL6 drivers.  Either stick with PCL5e, or 
> PostScript drivers.
> 
> Chris
> 
> ________________________________
> 
>        From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Brian Hall
>        Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 5:46 PM
>        To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>        Subject: [THIN] PCL5e or PCL6 printer drivers
> 
>        I'm in the process of setting up a new Citrix XP PS FR3 farm 
> running on W2K3 servers.  I've been using PCL6 drivers on my Citrix XP

> FR2 server successfully with all apps including a financial app which 
> recommends PCL5e drivers.  However, during peak usage times I've 
> observed frequent high cpu utilization from the spool.exe process.
> Since I have the opportunity to do everything from scratch, I'm 
> investigating all options.  From stability and performance 
> perspective, are there any arguments for standardizing on PCL5e 
> drivers when available and requiring users to match the driver?  How 
> well does the new Citrix universal printer driver work?  Has anyone 
> come across any best practice documentation for managing printer 
> drivers on the latest version of Citrix on W2K3?
> 
>        Thanks,
> 
>        Brian Hall
>        Network Administrator
>        American Financial Realty Trust
>        680 Old York Road, Jenkintown PA 19046
>        Tel: 215-887-2280 ext.2840 Fax: 215-887-9856
>        Email: bhall@xxxxxxxx
> 
>        Disclaimer - 12/13/2004
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